


it's nice to have a friend

by lostariels



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Best Friends, Engagement, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Marriage Proposal, Wedding Rings, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-21
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2020-10-25 01:42:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20716013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostariels/pseuds/lostariels
Summary: “So, where are you going?” Kara asked after a moment.With a quiet laugh, Lena shrugged, “nowhere. I just don’t want to go home. I thought I’d go for a walk instead.”A look of understanding dawned on Kara’s face and she chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip for a moment, a wariness flickering in her blue eyes as she gave Lena a hopeful look. “If you want - only if you want - you could come to my house. We could … hang out.”“Hang out?” Lena laughed, giving her a bemused look of amusement, “why?”Shrugging, Kara felt her cheeks redden. “I don’t know, I just- I don’t have any friends, and, well, I think it’d be nice to, you know? To have one. And I thought ... I thought that maybe you might need a friend too.”





	1. friendship bracelets

Watching the clock slowly but surely tick toward the end of class, and the end of the day, Kara let the history lesson wash over her, absentmindedly tapping her pen on her desk as she stared out the window, taking in the skeletal trees creaking in the howling wind, the schoolyard covered in a layer of slippery ice and a rare dusting of snow. 

It was magical and so different from the milder winters that she’d gotten used to in Midvale, and Kara couldn’t help but be reminded of home, a pang of longing slamming into her so strongly that she snapped the pen she’d been holding. Blue ink spurted all over the smattering of notes she’d managed to scrawl down at the beginning of the lesson, before losing interest in human history that had no bearing on her life at all, in her opinion. 

What did she care about which President came before whom? They were an indistinguishable stream of carbon copies, one much like the other, and she wasn’t interested in memorising their names. Now, the assembling of Microbots that she’d been learning about before her abrupt departure from Krypton,  _ that _ had been interesting. Despite her years on Earth, slowly adapting and almost finding happiness there, Kara had never been able to shake that longing for the home she’d left behind.

With a wistful sigh, Kara stared down at her ink-stained hand with a perturbed look on her face, a grimace tugging down the corners of her mouth. The new student sitting beside her was watching her as Kara glanced up, smiling gingerly as she curled her hand into a fist, hiding the blue ink, before hurriedly turning to a fresh page. Choosing a 2B pencil this time, Kara lost herself in her brooding again, her attention turning to the view outside the window.

“Now, who can tell me which year JFK was assassinated?” Mr Swift asked, glancing around the room and zoning in on Kara when he realised her attention was elsewhere. “Miss Danvers?”

Jumping in surprise, Kara’s head whipped around to face the young history teacher, her cheeks warming with the beginnings of a blush, embarrassed at having been caught. “Sir?”

“I asked which year JFK was assassinated. And seeing as you were  _ studiously _ paying attention, surely you can tell me.”

Face turning even redder, Kara opened and closed her mouth soundlessly, struggling to come up with any semblance of an answer, and she slumped further down in her seat, almost as if she could disappear beneath the desk and vanish from sight. 

“Well, it was … it was, uh, I-”

“We’re waiting,” Mr Swift mocked her, earning a smattering of laughs as he turned to give a group of girls a knowing smile.

In the split second that his attention was drawn to Belinda and her friends, a folded piece of paper landed on Kara’s desk, and she stared down at it in surprise, blinking at the year scrawled on one of the folded sides.  _ 1963. _

“Um, nineteen sixty-three?” Kara cautiously answered.

Smile vanishing off his face, Mr Swift gave her a level stare for a moment, almost as if he could sense that she’d cheated, but had missed how. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and then he turned to the board.

“Correct. I guess you were paying attention after all. Let’s keep it that way, hm?”

Kara gave him a meek nod, and he carried on with his lecture, already dismissing her, leaving Kara to shove the folded slip of paper between two pages of her notebook, trying to hide the evidence. Peeking out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the brunette sitting at the desk beside her one, finding Lena peering sideways at her too, and Kara gave her a grateful smile.

“Thank you,” she murmured, her voice low and lips barely moving.

Inclining her head in a slight nod, Lena turned her attention back to the lesson, with nothing further to say, and studiously copied down notes for everything Mr Swift said, although Kara knew that she didn’t need to. She was easily the smartest person in the class; Kara had caught glimpses of her grades on pop quizzes and papers, and Lena got perfect marks every time, despite being the youngest by a few years and new to town. 

Kara would’ve envied her if it wasn’t for the fact that the young girl wasn’t much better off than her in the friend department. Smart enough to skip a few grades with parents that moved her around a lot, Lena was more of an outsider than Kara had been, and at least Kara had had Alex until she’d moved away for college. Now, as a senior, she had no one, just like Lena.

Forcing herself to stare at the whiteboard for the rest of class, trying to keep a false look of interested concentration on her face, Kara anxiously waited for the school bell to ring and was packed up and out of her seat the moment it sounded, loud and irritating, yet sounding of freedom.

Despite her eagerness to be free of the imprisonment of school, the clogged up hallways slowed her down, the loud babble of students lingering at lockers or packing into the hallways in groups washed over her, and Kara tried not to elbow people out of the way with her strength as she wormed her way through the crowd. 

Spilling out into the bitter cold air of the surprisingly cold winter, she breathed in deeply and exhaled in a gust of white, her breath lingering in the air before her as she crunched the slushy ice beneath her boots, heading across the school parking lot. The yellow school bus was waiting as students piled onto it, but Kara wasn’t in the mood to deal with the taunts and shouts of them and settled on walking home.

She’d barely made it past the boundaries of the high school when she spotted a figure a short way ahead of her, walking home alone. Gently biting her lip, Kara hesitated for a moment, before she eagerly quickened her pace, clutching the straps of her backpack, wearing the knitted gloves Eliza had gotten for her so that she could blend in with everyone else, even if she radiated enough heat to remain unbothered in the Arctic.

“Lena! Hey, Lena!” Kara called out, raising her hand in a slight wave as the other girl turned around, heavy brows pulling together in a bewildered look as Kara rushed to catch up with her.

She was wearing a cashmere scarf wound around her neck, peeking out from beneath the neck of her expensive coat, a designer bag on her back. It was obvious just how rich her family was, yet Lena was still an outsider, and Kara wasn’t sure whether it was by choice or not. She was determined to find out, giving the shorter girl a hesitant smile as she fell into step beside her.

“Hi, I, uh, I thought we could walk home together,” Kara nervously said, a hopeful look on her face.

“Oh … I’m not going home,” Lena mumbled, a crease forming between her brows as she looked up at Kara, reaching up to hitch her bag more securely onto her back with a hand already reddened by the cold. She’d forgotten her gloves.

Eyebrows rising slightly in surprise, Kara gave her a doe-eyed look, “oh, well, I’m walking this way anyway.”

Nodding, Lena didn’t offer up anything else in terms of conversation, but she didn’t object to Kara’s presence, which seemed to be a good sign. Walking side by side, they passed by neighbourhood houses, trampling hopscotch outlines and other drawings made in colourful chalk, partially obscured by snow now, and Kara couldn’t stop herself from peeking at the girl beside her, taking in the angle of her jaw, the line of her nose and the way her mouth turned down gently at the corners.

She could feel Lena’s gaze on her more than once too, although neither of them spoke. Not until Kara caught the flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye as Lena flexed her stiff hands and curled them into fists, shoulders taut as she was wracked with a shiver.

“Oh, um, here,” Kara found herself saying, the words tumbling from her lips before she could stop herself, a kind smile on her face as she pulled off one glove and then the other, holding them out to Lena. “Your hands must be freezing. You can borrow my gloves.”

Lips curving into a faint smile, Lena cocked her head to the side slightly, dark hair spilling around her face, and she gave Kara a curious look. “But aren’t  _ your _ hands cold?”

With a shaky laugh, Kara shrugged off the question and gave her an encouraging look, “it’s fine, really.”

A look of apprehension running across her face, clouding her expression for a moment, Lena hesitated for a moment, before reaching out and taking hold of a glove. Her eyes flitted up to meet Kara’s and they both walked slowly, Lena clutching one of the gloves, yet seemingly still undecided about whether or not to accept the kind gesture. 

Slowly, she pulled her hand back with one of the gloves in her grasp and gave Kara an uncertain smile, “one each.”

Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to insist that Lena take both of them without being too pushy and careless about her own hands, which rightfully should’ve been just as frozen, Kara smiled brightly back at her, slipping the other glove back onto her hand. 

“Deal.”

Slipping the glove on, Lena flexed her fingers and smiled slightly to herself, before she glanced up at Kara, burying her other hand inside the pocket of her coat. “Thank you.”

“Thank  _ you.  _ I don’t know why, but Mr Swift  _ hates _ me. I was totally lost with that answer back there.”

“I noticed,” Lena shyly replied, almost looking embarrassed to admit it.

They walked in silence again for a few minutes, the decaying smell of the forest strong in the damp air, and Kara breathed it all in, eyes closing for a moment, feeling a knot inside her chest unwind. She could almost believe that she was back home. Home on Krypton with the frozen tundras beyond the city limits. Eyelids fluttering open, she glanced at Lena and found the other girl watching her with open interest, blinking in surprise as she was caught staring. Kara found that she liked the way Lena’s cheeks reddened slightly, darkening the already rosy blush from where the cold had pinched her face pink.

“So, where are you going?” Kara asked after a moment.

With a quiet laugh, Lena shrugged, “nowhere. I just don’t want to go home. I thought I’d go for a walk instead.”

A look of understanding dawned on Kara’s face and she chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip for a moment, a wariness flickering in her blue eyes as she gave Lena a hopeful look. “If you want - only if you want - you could come to my house. We could … hang out.”

_ “Hang out?” _ Lena laughed, giving her a bemused look of amusement,  _ “why?” _

Shrugging, Kara felt her cheeks redden. “I don’t know, I just- I don’t have any friends, and, well, I think it’d be nice to, you know? To have one. And I thought ... I thought that maybe you might need a friend too.”

“It’s a little late to be making friends, don’t you think? We’re graduating in a few months.”

Lena’s expression was solemn, her voice not unkind, almost as if she was trying to convince herself to shrug off Kara’s offer of friendship. She didn’t even look at Kara, eyes focused on some distant point. Kara was beginning to think that perhaps it was self-imposed isolation that Lena brought upon herself, a lack of desire to make friends being the cause of her seeming loneliness. Perhaps she wasn’t lonely at all.

“Oh … I guess,” Kara murmured after a moment, hurt surprisingly blooming in her chest as she tried to conceal a wounded look.

With a soft sigh, Lena came to a stop and looked up at her, brow furrowed and lips pressed into a flat line. Her breath fogged before her as she sighed, and one side of her mouth twitched into a faint smile as her sharp eyes softened.

“I’m not really good at making friends. I mean- I just- I’ve never had one before,” Lena awkwardly admitted, shifting from foot to foot on the slippery ice, an uncertain look flickering in her eyes as she bit her lip.

Kara’s eyebrows rose imperceptibly and her lips parted in surprise. “Oh. Well, I can be your first. If you want,” she offered with a tentative smile.

Still shifting from foot to foot, head bowed down, Lena slipped on a particularly icy patch and pitched forward, finding herself caught by a pair of strong hands, one gloved and the other one warm despite the bitter cold. Reaching out, she grabbed Kara as Kara cradled her biceps in her gentle grip, her heart in her throat as she worried about gripping her too hard and hurting Lena. As carefully as she could, she righted her and gave Lena a nervous, fleeting smile.

“Careful. You might hurt yourself.”

“Thanks.”

“What are friends for?” Kara weakly joked.

Giving her an apprehensive look, Lena slowly smiled, “right.”

They were still holding on to each other and were slow to let go, a flicker of confusion clouding Lena’s expression, while Kara’s cheeks reddened slightly as she pulled her hands back, balling them into fists. Her heart skipped a beat and she hesitantly cleared her throat.

“Well, I should- I should get going then. I’ll see you at school?”

Lena nodded, and Kara gave her a grim smile of resignation, feeling disappointment start to well up inside, pausing for a moment and then nodding, before she turned and started to walk off. She couldn’t say whether it was just the soft rejection that made her shoulders slump with dismay or the nagging part of her mind that refused to admit the burning crush she had on Lena. Kara was insistent that she’d just been trying to be friendly to the girl who sat alone at lunch, just like she did, and walked home along the same road as her every day, and always got top marks and sat at the desks beside Kara in every class they shared. It wasn’t by accident that she’d picked up on all of these things since the start of the semester. 

Ducking her head, Kara hitched her backpack further up her back and hunched her shoulders slightly, a dejected air about her as she quickened her pace, trying to put some distance between herself and the pretty girl she’d left behind. Kara didn’t even wait to take back the glove that Lena had started to tug off her frozen fingers. She’d barely made it ten steps before an uncertain voice called out, commanding and apologetic.

“Wait! Wait a second, please. I-” Lena said, her eyes fixed on the icy pavement as Kara whirled around in surprise, an optimistically expectant look lighting up her face as she stared at Lena. “I’d very much like to hang out with you.”

“Really?”

Lena let out a shaky laugh, eyebrows rising as she gave Kara a sceptical look, “you sound surprised.”

“I- well … yeah.”

Giving her a sheepish smile as she meekly caught up to her, Lena peered up at her with an almost bashful look on her face, her demeanour reserved, even as her eyes burned with a fierce yearning that Kara didn’t quite understand as she gazed down at her.

“Sorry, I just- I’m not used to having people  _ want _ to be my friend.”

A laugh bubbled up inside Kara and quietly fell from her lips as she gave Lena an incredulous look, both of them falling into step beside each other once more. “I think most people would happily be friends with you if you gave them the chance. I mean … you’re nice.”

“I’m  _ smart,” _ Lena snorted, “too smart. It’s not cool.”

“Well  _ I  _ think it is, and I’m sure I can keep up.”

“Mm, well definitely not in history. You might want to consider getting a tutor.”

“Hey, my marks are  _ fine!” _

Cracking a small smile, Lena gave her a searching look as she glanced up at her, a curious spark in her green eyes as if she didn’t quite know what to make of her classmate. Kara didn’t think for a moment that Lena might guess what she really was, but she could see the gauging look in the depths of her eyes and felt a little uneasy beneath the scrutinising stare as if her secret crush was written all over her face. Lena was the last person Kara would want to find out about  _ that. _

“Surprisingly.”

“I have an eidetic memory,” Kara smugly replied.

It wasn’t quite true, but her Kryptonian physiology gave her an enhanced memory that could only be compared with a human’s eidetic memory, and she was grateful to her alien DNA for it knowing that all of the hours spent staring out the window in class instead of paying attention would’ve come back to bite her on the ass if it wasn’t for the fact that she could rapidly memorise a whole semester’s worth of topics. It had saved her more than once in pop quizzes and midterms, but she didn’t deign to include Lena in that tidbit of alien trivia. 

“Oh yeah? What was I wearing on my first day of school?” Lena suspiciously asked.

“A green shirt, and a black leather jacket. Your shoes were Gucci.”

“Hmph.”

Feeling a little warm beneath the neck of her coat, Kara didn’t bother telling her that she hadn’t remembered that solely because of her ability to recall it from her perfect memory, but because she distinctly remembered seeing Lena for the first time, taking in the stark beauty of the new girl and thinking about how lovely the colour green looked on her, with her eyes.

“Do you believe me now?” 

“Maybe.”

“You know, if we’re going to be friends, you’re going to have to trust me. Just a little.”

Arching an eyebrow, Lena gave her a pointed look, “oh so I pass you one note and we’re friends now?”

Leaning in conspiratorially, looming over Lena by inches, Kara’s nose wrinkled slightly as she smiled, “I hate to break it to you, but you’re on your way to my house to hang out with me. That’s what friends do.”

Making a disconcerting sound, Lena gave her a mock look of doubt, lips twitching slightly at the corners. They kept up a steady stream of conversation about their classes and classmates the rest of the walk back to Kara’s, the white clapboard house perched on the edge of the choppy, steel grey sea dusted with a sprinkle of snow and a layer of ice. 

Stomping her way up the front steps, Kara let herself in, wiping her shoes on the bristly mat and shed her coat and hung it on a row of hooks, dumping her school bag below it and kicking off her boots. Lena followed suit, creeping quietly, almost fearful as if expecting someone to accuse her of intruding.

“Where’s your mom?” she softly asked, voice barely above a whisper, fidgeting nervously with Kara’s glove, still keeping her hand warm. 

Lena seemed bristly and agitated, and Kara gave her a reassuring smile, reaching out to take Lena’s coat. “Oh, she won’t be home until late. She works at a lab; I don’t see her much.”

“Is it- is it just the two of you?”

Nodding, Kara gave her a strained smile, reaching out to loop Lena’s bag through a finger, giving the other girl no choice but to let it slide off her shoulders and arms. Setting it on the floor beside her own, Kara ran her ungloved hand through her hair.

“Yeah, my, uh, my parents died when I was thirteen. And my adoptive father died a couple of years later. And my sister’s off at college now, so it’s just me and Eliza left.”

“I didn’t know that.”

Kara shed her glove and gave Lena a mild look of surprise, “really? Basically everyone in town knows.”

“I don’t usually listen to gossip.”

Lena hung her coat up and handed Kara back her other glove before they ventured further into the house. It was warm and gloomy, quickly brightened by the flip of a few light switches, and Kara made her way towards the fridge, which Eliza always kept stocked for the exorbitant amount of calories that the young girl consumed.

“Want anything to drink? My mom’s not home so I can make us some coffee.”

Shrugging indifferently, Lena glanced around, taking in the comfortable kitchen with its signs of use, the photo frames that were hanging from walls and cluttering cupboards, the stack of cookbooks with cracked spines that Kara used, her mother not home often enough to get much use out of them, and Eliza’s stack of paperwork spread across the table. 

Kara made them both cups of coffee, adding cream and sugar without question, and grabbed a plate of cookies she’d made the night before - or rather the half that she hadn’t wolfed down while they were still warm. Retreating to the living room, they made themselves comfortable on the sofa and Kara flipped the TV on, before turning to Lena.

“Do you want to watch a movie, or do you like video games?”

Uncertainty flashed across Lena’s face as she held a cookie almost out of politeness, Kara taking a large bite out of her own and sending crumbs cascading down onto her lap. Her shoulders rolled in a small shrug and she brushed dark hair out of her face. 

“Either is fine.”

“Do you like Mario Kart?”

“I’ve, uh, never played it.”

Choking on a mouthful of chocolate chip, Kara scrambled up from her lounged position at the end of the sofa, back straight as she looked at Lena with incredulity. “You’ve  _ never _ played Mario Kart?”

“Nope.”

“Not even  _ once?” _

Shrugging helplessly, Lena gave her a sheepish smile as she shifted self-consciously. Spluttering, Kara’s eyebrows rose impossibly high, mouth open, and she quickly climbed to her feet, babbling as she rounded the coffee table.

“Do you know who Yoshi is?”

“No.”

“Oh my God, are you serious? You  _ have _ to play it.”

Lena quietly accepted the choice in activity as she watched Kara untangle controllers and insert a disc to the console, changing the TV settings and coaching Lena through the selection of characters. With a look of intense concentration on her face, Lena picked Yoshi, out of lack of knowledge of any other characters, while Kara happily picked Princess Peach.

“Just so you know, you’re about to have your ass handed to you,” Kara said, giving her a sideways look and a shit-eating grin.

“Wait, what do I even  _ do?” _ Lena asked, brow furrowing with confusion.

Rattling off a stream of controls, Kara picked a map for them and made herself comfortable, legs crossed up on the sofa, a picture of ease compared to Lena’s straight-backed, rigid posture, feet both planted on the floor as she perched on the edge of her seat.

“It’s a race. Just drive.”

“Oh well that’s helpful,” Lena huffed, mouth tugging down at the corners as Kara confirmed everything.

The screen started to count down, split into two halves, and Kara smiled as she readied herself and let out a quiet laugh. “Just so you know, friendships have been ruined over this game.”

“Just when I was starting to get used to the idea of having one,” Lena dryly replied.

Then the game started and they were both fixated on the TV screen, at their own halves respectfully, and after a few moments of confusion and snorts of laughter off Kara, as she tried to play and coach Lena through it, they were absorbed by the game. Lena couldn’t help but smile as she watched Kara bodily move with the turns of the map, face lit up with fierce competitiveness as she eagerly raced through the maps with familiarity, leaving Lena to trundle along in confusion, blundering her way through banana peels and right into shells.

She learned quickly though, and even though Kara won the first two games, Lena beat her on the third try, smug and puffed up as Kara yelled at the TV, watching Yoshi do his victory lap. The awkwardness between the two of them had dissipated quickly, the sky growing dark outside, their coffee cups empty and the plate of cookies nearly gone - that was Kara’s doing, although Lena had eaten the one she’d picked up - and they were onto their fourth game, Lena’s feet up beneath her, any signs of unease at being in someone else’s house gone as they bumped elbows, side by side and glued to the screen, when the front door opened.

“Hi Eliza,” Kara jovially called out, footsteps slowly making their way towards the living room.

Lena glanced over her shoulder, the game all but forgotten at the arrival of the older blonde woman, whose face was etched with delight as her eyes landed on Lena, although no surprise, hinting at the fact that she must’ve noticed the other bag dumped in the hallway beside Kara’s.

“Oh, you have a friend over.”

“This is Lena,” Kara distractedly introduced her, eyes still glued onto the game.

Setting her controller aside, Lena rose to her feet and turned around, youthful face solemn as she met the woman’s gaze. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs Danvers.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Eliza warmly replied, seeming to mean it too, “are you staying the night, or for dinner?”

Glancing at Kara, who looked up, an expectant look in her blue eyes, as if waiting to see which offer she would take, Lena deliberated for a moment. It was Friday night, she had no desire to go home, and she was enjoying herself in Kara’s company, much to her surprise.

“Oh, I, uh, I’d love to stay the night, if that’s okay with you.”

“Of course!” Eliza readily agreed, waving aside Lena’s concerns, “have you girls eaten yet? I can order pizza.”

“Oo, yes please!” Kara eagerly chimed in, finishing the crossing line in first place and setting her controller down, before turning around in her seat, seizing the opportunity.

Her adoptive mother hovered for a moment, a pleased look on her face as she watched Kara set up a new game on the TV, while Lena sat back down beside her, quietly asking questions. It was the first time Kara had brought a friend home, something she hadn’t even done when Kenny had been alive, and Eliza felt quietly relieved at the fact that she seemed to have broken out of her moping that she’d been stuck in since Alex had gone off to college. Watching the two girls chatting for a beat longer, Eliza slipped from the living room to order the pizza.

An hour later, the two girls were sitting in front of the TV,  _ Funny Face _ playing on the screen as Kara watched it play out with a wistful look on her face, occasionally quoting her favourite lines in between bites of pizza that she’d wolfed down. Eliza had another two waiting for her in the kitchen so Kara didn’t tip Lena off about her inhuman appetite, and they ate from two other ones, left to their own devices as Eliza shut herself in her office to write reports. Lena spent most of her time watching Kara instead of the movie, only agreeing to watch it because Kara had been horrified that she’d never seen it before, and she couldn’t help but stare at her with an expression of amusement and something akin to alarm.

_ “Take the picture, take the picture!” _ Kara exclaimed, laughing as she turned to look at Lena, as if checking to make sure she was enjoying it, catching her staring instead.

“You’re … weird,” Lena hesitantly said, her brow furrowing for a moment.

Kara paused, cocking her head to the side as her smile faltered slightly, “I know. I can’t help it.”

“It’s funny.”

“You think so?” Kara asked, her face lighting up with delight.

Lena bit her lip as she nodded, eyes softening as she watched Kara’s smile grow and her attention slide back to the movie. It was entertaining to watch her, so animated and taking pleasure from the familiar lines that she’d probably heard a dozen times at least, and Lena couldn’t help but find herself wondering if she’d ever loved anything that much. Had she ever enjoyed herself as much as she had that afternoon with Kara, playing  _ Mario Kart _ , eating pizza and lounging about without the oppressive feeling of being a complete and utter failure?

Kara seemed to treat her as if they’d been the best of friends for years like they’d always known each other, and Eliza’s delighted smiles hadn’t gone unnoticed by Lena, a clear sign that she was thrilled that her daughter had brought home a friend. Lena was struck by the sudden desire to never leave; she’d never felt so at home before, so eagerly welcomed as if she was some special person. 

Distracted by her own thoughts and her preoccupation with watching Kara, Lena could barely recall a single thing that happened in the movie by the time the credits were rolling, yet was eager to agree that she’d thoroughly enjoyed it when Kara turned to her with an expectant look on her face, cheeks rosy and eyes bright. She’d helped gather up the empty pizza boxes and carry them to the kitchen, brow furrowing as she glanced at two other empty ones set beside the trash, and gave Eliza a polite smile as the older woman emerged from her study long enough to make them both mugs of hot chocolate and give Kara a feeble warning to not stay up too late.

Bounding upstairs with enough enthusiasm to warrant her spilling her drink everywhere, leaving a more sombre Lena to wonder how she didn’t do just that as she followed at a careful pace, Kara grandly gestured for the brunette to enter her bedroom, before anxiously flitting around with so much nervous energy radiating from her that Lena was helpless to watch. Setting her drink down on a desk, Kara swept a pile of laundry off the end of her bed, turned a photo frame slightly out of Lena’s field of vision, then was shoving a stuffed animal in a closet and shifting the cluttered mess of a teenager’s room around as she nervously babbled.

“So this is my room. I mean, it’s Alex’s room too, but she’s at college so, tech- technically I guess it  _ is _ just my room. That’s her bed over there. This one’s mine - obviously. Um, you can sit down if you want. I’ll get a chair!” 

She scrambled over to the desk, turning the chair around and shifting a black cat off it, whispering quiet cooing sounds as she scratched its arching spine as it stretched out, tail swaying. Lena quietly laughed and crossed the bedroom, taking a seat at the desk and placing her mug down. There were a few photos of Kara and the girl she assumed must be Alex and leant in to get a better look.

“Oh, uh, yeah they were from the fair a couple of years back,” Kara bashfully explained, rubbing the back of her neck as Lena smiled at the two girls pulling faces.

“You’re close?”

“We are  _ now,” _ Kara snorted with laughter, “not at the beginning.”

A sad smile curled Lena’s lips as she straightened up, clearing her throat, “mine was the opposite.”

“You have a sister?”

Kara’s eyebrows rose in surprise before her expression softened again as Lena started shaking her head, a troubled look in her eyes. “A brother. He’s much older. He’s still in Metropolis.”

“Oh. Do you miss it there?”

Lena gave her a rueful smile, “no. I was, uh, I was at a boarding school. Never had any friends there either. I was only ever home for the holidays, and by then my brother was running the family company so … yeah.”

“Well, you have one friend now.”

“Lucky me,” Lena softly replied, her voice lacking any malice, yet still making Kara’s heart sink slightly.

Although she didn’t  _ seem _ lonely, it was there inside Lena, and Kara knew how that felt all too well. She was determined to make her smile, to make her happy even if it was only for a moment, and she quickly went to her bed and gathered the blankets and pillows, before carrying the bundle back towards Lena.

“Can you move the chair here a second,” Kara asked, jerking her chin to a point just before her on the raised dais of the far end of the bedroom.

A puzzled look on her face, Lena rose to her feet and followed the instructions, before standing back and watching as Kara dropped the bundle and then deftly moved Lena’s hot chocolate out of harm’s way. With a few simple shakes of a blanket and heavy objects pinning down the corners, she had a sort of tent made, draping over the back of the chair and enclosing the gap between it and the desk.

Lena stared at her feet sticking out of the gloomy hole, while Kara shuffled around inside, quickly arranging pillows in a pile, before she scrambled out of the hole and fetched Alex’s blankets too, making a nest inside. With a flashlight pulled from the desk drawer, she crawled into the space and softly called Lena into it too. 

With some confusion, Lena dropped down to her knees and peered into the illuminated space, taking in the cross-legged figure with her shoulders stooped and head ducked down, the flashlight casting shadows in the space, and frowned slightly at Kara.

“What’re we doing?”

“I’ve never had a real sleepover with anyone before,” Kara quietly admitted with a grim smile, “Alex said that she and her friends would make forts out of pillows and blankets when they were younger. I figured, well … seeing as we’ve- I mean … neither of us has had friends before. I thought that this- it might be your first sleepover too.”

Crawling into the cramped space, Lena huddled beside Kara, feeling heat radiate from her as they sat shoulder to shoulder, her knees drawn up to her chest, and she peered up at the blonde girl with a patient look on her face.

“What now?”

“I don’t know,” Kara said with a quiet chuckle, “it’s just something friends do.”

“Okay,” Lena replied uncertainly.

They sat there for a few moments and she took a sip of her drink, while Kara swallowed the nervous fluttering in her chest and twisted her fingers nervously. Neither of them knew what to say, or what to do, and Kara felt her cheeks warm slightly, grateful for the gloom on the makeshift tent as it obscured the flush.

“Do you want to do something?” Kara asked.

“Like what?”

“Anything.”

“Tell me about yourself,” Lena blurted out with conviction, “I mean- well, we can’t be friends if we don’t know anything about each other, right?”

A shadow of fear ran across Kara’s face, before she gave Lena a lopsided smile, hoping that she couldn’t feel the anxiety radiating from her, and she turned so that she was facing her, as Lena shifted too. Their knees brushed in the small space and Kara felt her heart leap in her chest. Despite the fact that she didn’t know Lena, and had been lectured time and time again about keeping her secret, Kara had the urge to let it spill out of her, to tell someone the truth about where she came from and how she was different.

Instead, she found herself telling Lena the human copy of her tragic childhood, glazing over her parent's deaths, still too raw even if it was a fabricated version of it, telling her edited versions of some of her favourite stories on Krypton, a deep ache blossoming in her chest. She spoke of Alex, laughing about their rocky relationship at the beginning, about Jeremiah and Eliza and how good they’d been to her. She talked about what she wanted to do after high school, and her favourite colour, about the music she liked and the books she’d read.

Lena let her ramble on, occasionally asking a question or offering up a sound of agreement or acknowledgement when Kara would look to her. And then Kara was asking her questions, and it was Lena hesitantly disclosing things about her childhood and her family, her likes and dislikes and all the things she wanted to do one day. Kara listened with parted lips and a look of tender awe in her blue eyes, unable to stop herself from staring, enjoying the way Lena would gesture with slender hands that liked to hold a fencing foil and move chess pieces, or so Kara was discovering.

When they finally came to a hushed silence, they sat knee to knee beneath the desk, looking at each other with some trepidation, as if waiting for the other to laugh at them or make some sort of scoffing remark, but it never came. Slowly, Kara smiled and slipped out from beneath the desk, the quiet sounds of her rummaging around drifting towards Lena as she waited patiently, before she was back again, an excitable grin on her face.

“Here, I made this for you,” Kara said, beaming at Lena as she pulled out a short braided length of string.

It was emerald green with a strand of blue woven through it, and Kara found the courage to reach out and pick up Lena’s hand. She pressed it into her palm and gently cradled her hand for a moment, before letting go.

“It’s a friendship bracelet. So you know that you always have one friend,” she smiled sweetly, childlike innocence to her wide blue eyes, round cheeks bitten pink by the cold air and eyes crinkling at the corners. “It’s another human thing. Look, I made one for myself too.”

Uncurling her other hand, Kara exposed the bracelet she held, the same shade of blue as the colour woven through Lena’s green one, with a strand of emerald green shot through hers. Opposites, yet matching. 

Expression softening, Lena exhaled softly and she gave Kara a ghost of a smile as she met her eyes. “You made that just then?”

“It’s just some string,” Kara dismissively replied, a flicker of guilt welling up as she played it off as some quick craft project that hadn’t been hurried along by the use of her super-speed deftly weaving them together on the other side of the bedroom.

“Thank you,” Lena murmured, glancing down at the bracelet with a brooding look on her face before she glanced up again. “Will you tie it on for me?”

“Sure!”

Her fingers were clumsy, and Kara felt a nervous flutter in her stomach as she cradled Lena’s hand in her own, fingertips brushing the soft exposed skin on the inside of her wrist. Heart stumbling in her chest, Kara swallowed her agitation and fumbled with the ends of the bracelet, tying it securely in place.

For a moment, she allowed herself to hold Lena’s hand in her own, feeling the skin warm ever so slightly in her touch as they both stared down at the bracelet. Pulling back, Kara gave her a warm smile and then held hers up with a question in her eyes. Lena reached out and took her hand in hers, her touch gentle and precise as she tied the blue one around Kara’s wrist, knotting it tightly.

Wrists exposed, they looked down at the matching bracelets and both felt a warmth in their chests, sharing a secret smile that was just for the two of them as they huddled in their den. Both of them were struck by how nice it felt to have a friend, and they found themselves lying on their backs, shoulder to shoulder with heads on pillows, Kara’s long legs peeking out from beneath the fringes of the blankets hanging over the chair, talking long into the night, their hands so close that they occasionally brushed as they shifted, both trying to be coy about it.

Without meaning to, they fell asleep in their makeshift tent, bodies turned towards each other, lips parted as they breathed deeply and evenly, eyelashes fluttering on cheeks and youthful looks on their faces. Their hands were touching, illuminated by the flashlight, and their shirts rode up slights, cuffs exposing the bracelets around their wrists, matching signs of their newfound friendship.

When she poked her head in later that night to check on them, Eliza took in the pair of feet sticking out from beneath the blankets stretched between the desk and chair, two vague silhouettes visible through the blankets, and smiled to herself, before gently backing out of the room and closing the door.


	2. engagement rings

The sky was light pink when Kara pulled up short over one of the islands off the shore of Boston, Massachusetts. High in the sky, she was little more than a black speck, invisible to the human eyes below, and with a deep breath, she fell. Quickly, little more than a blur, she dove for the furthest island, the one she always landed on, far enough away for people to mistake her for an eagle or some other sort of predatory bird. 

Landing softly on the furthest shore, she stood on the damp shoreline, her boots leaving deep furrows in the soft mud, overlapping all the ones she’d left there before. With familiar routine, Kara waded into the water, the cold lapping at her shins and soaking into her clothes. It didn’t bother her, her body heat keeping her warm as she submerged herself completely, lungs full with air as she made powerful strokes, moving through the shallows quickly.

Leaving a wake of bubbles behind her, Kara tore through the water and came up beneath the docks, a dark head bobbing beneath the rotting planks as she breathed in the smell of brine and looked up at the barnacles that had stuck themselves to the rocks of the pier. Like some sodden sea creature from a myth, Kara emerged from the dark water as she clambered onto the boardwalk, water cascading off her. 

Wringing her hair out, she cast a look around from the shadows of the patch of trees she was standing in, finding the coast clear. Spinning in a circle, water arced from her body, and with her cold breath, she managed to dry her clothes off until they were barely damp, and then set off down the street at a leisurely pace. At the corner, a black car was waiting for her.

Sliding into the back seat, Kara gave the driver a bright smile, buckling up her belt and leaning forward as she fell into conversation with him. Hector picked her up every week, and Kara found that she liked him, asking him questions about his dog and make bets about the baseball game the following day. He didn’t know about her, or her powers, and he never questioned why he picked her up on the corner of the street every Friday evening like clockwork. 

For four years now, Hector had been driving Kara to Lena’s campus every weekend, and Kara still felt the excited flutter in her stomach as they drove through the city and made their way towards MIT. She couldn’t help but smile softly in the back as she thought about Lena, about how much she couldn’t wait to see her, how the risk of flying from National City every week was worth being spotted. 

Very few people knew that Kara was from Krypton, that she wasn’t human, that there were so many things different about her, but Lena knew. Kara had told her when they were in high school. Junior year. The year that Kara had found herself feeling more for her best friend than just friendliness. Both confessions had come tumbling out of her in one breathless declaration of love, met with a moment of stunned silence, before Lena was kissing her and Kara was rooted to the spot out of sheer surprise.

They’d been together since that moment. All through college, while Kara completed her Bachelor of Arts in marketing, first at Stanhope and then at National City University, they had made the long-distance work, with weekly trips to Massachusetts to visit Lena at MIT, while she finished her bachelor degree a year early and was on track to finish her Masters in a year, so both of them could be together in National City. 

Graduation was just on the horizon, and neither of them could wait. Lena had already made a couple of trips to visit Kara so they could visit apartments together, debating whether they really needed a bedroom or whether a studio would be fine. Whether Lena’s entry-level job at Luthor Corp would be able to cover the cost of a penthouse, with her insisting that she work her own way up to the top of her family’s company. She didn’t want any handouts, and while Kara agreed that she didn’t want Lena’s parents to give them a place, Lena’s expectations for an apartment were grander than she’d be able to contribute with the measly wages from the position at CatCo that she had lined up for herself.

Still, she wouldn’t have changed it for the world. It was like their life was starting to come together, everything they’d ever wanted within sight and grasp, and Kara couldn’t wait. She couldn’t wait to come home to Lena every day, no more distance and time differences separating them, although it was such a small price to pay to see her every week. But things would be perfect and magical, and she was so wrapped up in her rosy dreams for them both that she didn’t realise they were at Lena’s building until the car came to a stop.

Kara thanked Hector and slipped out of the car, making her way to the door and pushing the buzzer. The crackly sound of Lena’s voice made her smile as it came out of the speaker before the door opened and Kara rode the elevator up to the top floor, four stories up. The door was already opening as the elevator deposited her onto Lena’s floor, and Kara’s face lit up at the sight of her girlfriend standing in the doorway.

“Hi,” Kara softly said, her expression softening as she leant down to gently kiss Lena, cradling her hand in her face and wrapping her other arm around her waist.

Stepping into the apartment, she managed to kick the door shut and envelope Lena in a tight hug in the same motion, picking her up slightly so that Kara could walk further inside, while Lena’s arms wrapped around her shoulders and she pressed her face into Kara’s neck.

“I’ve missed you,” came Lena’s muffled reply.

Feeling a warmth spread through her, Kara quietly chuckled and turned to kiss her temple, before releasing her. “I’ve missed you too. It’s been such a crazy week, it feels like I haven’t seen you in  _ forever.” _

It was hard not to grumble about how much she missed Lena when they were separated by states and miles and time, and she knew they were luckier than some, and that they wouldn’t change a thing, even if it was hard. But Kara really did miss her. She missed the way Lena felt in her arms, and the weight of her arm thrown across her waist when they slept together. The way it felt to watch movies curled up on the couch and to be woken up with a cup of coffee the way she liked it, to thread their fingers together and go to the movies or out for drinks. It was the small things that Kara missed. She found herself missing them more, now that they were so close to finishing college. It was all so close to being real for them that she found herself growing impatient.

“Mm, tell me about it,” Lena sighed heavily, fiddling with the damp collar of Kara’s shirt before she glanced up at smiled at her. “Go and shower; you smell like the sea. Dry clothes are in the bathroom. I’ve ordered Chinese food; it’ll be here by the time you get out.”

Expression brightening, Kara gave her another kiss, her lips soft and lingering for a moment longer, and then she pulled back. There was a spark in her eyes and she raised her eyebrows excitedly. “Can we go up to the roof? The sunset looks like it’s going to be good.”

“I’ll get us some blankets.”

Kara was quick in the shower, spending just enough time to wash away the salt that had crusted in her hair and skin, the dank smell of brine swirling away down the drain before she stepped out and changed into some of the spare clothes kept in a drawer in Lena’s apartment for her visits. Towel drying her hair as quick as she could, Kara raked her fingers through the ropy locks and messily tied it up, before transferring the contents of her jeans pockets into the dry pair and dumping her damp, stiff clothes in the laundry basket.

Popping her glasses back on, Kara was greeted by the smell of Chinese food as she stepped out of the bathroom to find Lena filling two thermoses with different drinks. One had a strong alcoholic smell to it as Kara breathed in, and the other was the strong smell of bitter coffee. Her stomach rumbled as she walked over to Lena and wrapped her arms around her waist, her chin resting on her shoulder as she watched her screw the lids on.

“Don’t forget to put a jacket on,” Kara mumbled, “there was a cold front rolling in as I flew here.”

Lena let out a snort of laughter and turned in her arms, thermos’ in hand, and looked up at her with a crooked smile that was almost mocking, her eyes crinkling slightly at the corners and one eyebrow arched. “You should be a weatherwoman. Once you get through the first couple of years at CatCo, I mean. You’d never be wrong, flying around up there, that’s for sure.”

“Mm, well maybe I will,” Kara murmured, smiling before she kissed her. “Who knows where I’ll end up.”

“With me,” Lena mumbled against her lips, and Kara could feel the smile.

When they broke apart, Kara took it upon herself to gather up the paper bags and the rolled-up blankets, while Lena fetched a jacket and grabbed her keys, thermos’ safely tucked under her arms. Making their way to the fire exit, they headed up to the roof instead of down, prying open the rusted door and out onto the flat stretch of concrete. 

It wasn’t too high up, but the view was mostly flat as they looked out at the horizon, making their way over to the edge of the roof. Setting down the bags of food, Kara shook out one of the blankets for them to sit on and weighed down the corners. Lena sank down onto it and set down the drinks, and Kara draped a blanket over her lap, before reaching for the bags and pulling out a variety of white boxes, all of her favourites written on the tops in black marker. She couldn’t help but smile, a warmth spreading through her as she beamed at Lena, who was busy pouring them both drinks into the caps. She’d made mojitos, the mint, sugar and lime cutting through the taste of the gin.

They went back and forth as they ate, falling into the familiar game of asking each other twenty questions about their week or a specific topic, usually from the news or a genre of books, about what album they’d last listened to or whether they thought a tomato was a fruit or a vegetable. Some of them were ridiculous, bringing them to laughter, while others were more serious, catching up on the things they hadn’t had time to talk about on the phone as the sun sank down.

“So, how are you?” Kara finished off her list, asking the same question that she always asked.

It was expected, and Lena gave her a tight smile as she took a sip of her drink and then waved offhandedly, “oh, you know … best week of my life. Studying for finals is my  _ favourite _ thing in the world.”

“Come on, tell the truth,” Kara lightly prompted her, gently pushing Lena so that she swayed to the side, Kara’s arm still securely wrapped around her shoulders as warmth radiated from her. “How are you  _ really _ feeling?”

Blowing all the air out of her lungs, Lena’s shoulders rose and fell beneath the heavy weight of her girlfriend’s arm, and her mouth turned down slightly at the corners. Raking her fingers through her dark hair, she stared out at the silhouetted buildings against the sky, which was slowly changing from pink to violet, grey wisps of clouds mottling the expanse of the sky visible over the city.

“A little stressed out.”

Kara leant into Lena, resting her head on her shoulder, listening to her heart thud in her chest, stumbling slightly with nerves as her girlfriend ran her hands over the thighs of her jeans in a nervous manner. 

“Is it exams? You know you’re going to ace them.”

“I know,” Lena murmured, her brow furrowed slightly as the wind snatched at her hair and tossed it around her face.

Slowly reaching out with her other arm, Kara enveloped her in her embrace, solid and warm and comforting, and felt Lena breathe in deeply, her exhale a soft sigh as she deflated again inside the circle of her arms.

“How about you?”

Giving her a strained smile, Kara straightened up slightly, glancing down at her, inches from her face as she stared into Lena’s green eyes, almost grey in the fading light of day. There was a question in them, an expectant look as she waited for Kara’s reply.

Deliberating for a moment, Kara shrugged and gave her a knowing smile, an airy, lighthearted laugh falling from her lips. “Me too, actually,” she sighed. “You know how finals get me.”

Lena turned her head and kissed her shoulder, “I know. But you’re going to do great, and once we graduate, we’ll both be together.”

Giving her a tender smile, Kara pressed a kiss to her forehead and closed her eyes, feeling a small shiver run through Lena, before she burrowed herself deeper into Kara’s warmth. She fit perfectly, like she’d been made to be held by Kara, her head tucked beneath Kara’s chin, her arms wrapped around her waist, and their legs tangled together as they stretched them out before them. 

“I’ve, uh, I’ve been thinking about us, actually,” Kara hedged after a moment of silence as they listened to the wind. “About being together in National City.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhm,” Kara said, letting out a strained laugh, “I, uh, well … you know how when we first met there had been that empty space? You hadn’t come along yet to fill it, but then, well, you did, and it was nice. It was  _ made _ for you.”

Lena’s breath was hot against Kara’s neck as she chuckled quietly, “I do.”

“I was nice to have a friend, right?”

“Mm,” Lena hummed in agreement, the sound low and deep at the back of her throat, her nose grazing the delicate skin of Kara’s throat. “You know what was nicer? Having a girlfriend.”

“Right!” Kara softly exclaimed, “that’s my point. Yes, that was- well, that was just … it was the best feeling in the world. And it’s been nice, hasn’t it? I know the distance has- well, it’s been hard sometimes. I know I get to see you more often than most long-distance couples because … well, the flying thing, obviously. But it’s- it’s still been hard. But I wouldn’t change it for the world, because you know how much I love you.”

“Right.”

The word was drawn out, slow and cautious, and Lena pulled back to stare at Kara with a flickering wariness in her eyes. It was an almost visible change, as if her hackles were raised, every inch of her tensed as if waiting for some physical blow. Kara wanted to pull her back into her arms, to nestle her against her side and never let her go. 

They’d be together soon enough, in a crappy apartment, because Lena wouldn’t let her parents buy her a nice penthouse, sharing the same bed and making breakfast on the weekends, brushing their teeth side by side in the mirror as the jockeyed for room and danced barefoot in the kitchen as they made dinner together. It was their weekly routine when Kara came to Lena’s campus on the weekend, and soon enough, it’d be daily. She’d wake up beside Lena and fall asleep behind her, and it would be a luxury to kiss her whenever she wanted to, and say whatever it was that crossed her mind at that moment, instead of waiting to Facetime each other after class, and before Kara’s shift at Noonan’s started.

“Ah,” Kara muttered, “I wanted to do this the right way.”

Lena’s brow furrowed darkly above her confused eyes, an affronted look on her face as Kara pushed her shoulders back and reached out to pick up her hand. It was cold and Kara was gentle as she cradled it between her own, channeling her warmth in the freezing, fragile hands of the person she loved most in the world. In any world, really. Something gave her the nerve to fumble in her pocket as she gave Lena a hesitant smile.

“I know it’s- well, I mean, it’s probably not the best time to be doing this, and I love being your girlfriend - you know I do - but-”

“Are you  _ breaking up with me,” _ Lena exclaimed, an ashen look of incredulity on her face as she jerked back. “Right before  _ finals?  _ Are you fucking kidding me, Kara?”

Lena tried to tear her hand out of Kara’s, but the Kryptonian was too strong and stubborn, reluctant to let her go as she clung to her with a desperate look of exasperation on her face. Kara looked just as surprised, and somewhat confused as she held out the hand that had been rummaging around in her pocket, and deposited a velvet box into Lena’s hand as she still tried to pull away.

Pausing, Lena looked down as Kara gently let her go, leaving her with the little jewelry box nestled in her palm, before slender tanned fingers opened it. A diamond ring was settled in the folds of the velvet cushion, winking faintly in the fading sunlight, and Kara sat back on her haunches, chewing nervously on her bottom lip as realisation dawned on Lena’s face.

“Are you- you’re  _ proposing?” _

“I just- I don’t- I like being your girlfriend, but I- well, I think being your wife would be nicer, you know? I want to marry you.”

_ “Marry me?  _ Like … with a wedding? You want me to- to wear a dress? Get the law involved?”

Kara blinked in surprise, eyes wide and startled as she slumped back on the concrete rooftop, “I mean … you don’t have to wear a dress. We could … go to a courthouse. I doesn’t have to be a big- a big wedding. I just … I want to spend my whole life with you. I love you. Like … I love you so much that I can’t imagine  _ not _ spending my whole life with you, and I know- I know we’re young. But we wouldn’t have to get married right away! We could wait a few years. I just- we’ll be living together and I want you to know how crazy I am about you. From that very first day we became friends and we had those silly string friendship bracelets. I-”

“I want to marry you too,” Lena blurted out, cutting her off. 

Falling silent, caught off-guard mid-tirade, Kara made a strangled sound of surprise and opened and closed her mouth soundlessly for a few moments. And then she let out a quiet, lighthearted laugh, full of disbelief as she reached out and cupped Lena’s cheek in her warm hand, stroked her cheek as she gave Lena a bewildered look.

“Do you mean that? Really?”

“I’ve- I’ve never loved anyone like this,” Lena said, shaking her head as she reached up to cover Kara’s hand with her own, “I can’t imagine my life without you. It was- the day I met you … it felt like that was the moment that my life started.”

Her brow furrowed as she looked at the ring, staring at it with a brooding look in her eyes, almost as if she was confused. And Kara knew that they were young, and she’d just turned twenty-three, and Lena was barely twenty-one, but she knew that nothing was going to change. Whether she was honest about wanting her in every sense of the word right now, or waited ten years to tell Lena she wanted to get married, Kara knew that she wouldn’t want anyone else. She was young and naïve and so desperately in love that she felt emboldened and reckless. And Lena felt the same.

“I’ve loved you since the moment I met you,” Lena said, slightly breathless and dazed, “you’ve been my first everything and I- I don’t want anyone else. Ever. Just you. I want to marry you and- and wake up next to you every day. I want a wedding and the dress and our friends. Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you. But … there’s just one thing first.”

Kara opened and closed her mouth, eyebrows rising in surprise, “I- what is it?”

Lips twitching with a smile, Lena snapped the ring box shut, holding it in her hand as she nudged the sleeve of her jacket and shirt up, revealing the tattered, threadbare bracelet encircling her pale wrist.

“I need you to take this off.”

Brow creasing with confusion, Kara gave her a puzzled look. They’d grown too old for things like friendship bracelets a long time ago, yet they’d never taken them off. Not once. It was a miracle that they were both still wearing them, that the slender plaited strands of string hadn’t snapped a long time ago, and Kara always felt a warm glow in her chest when she fiddled with her own or Lena’s bracelet. 

“Oh. Um. Okay, sure.”

Lena pulled her hand back as Kara reached for her wrist, giving her an amused look, before rolling her eyes and quietly scoffing with laughter. “You’re not even going to ask  _ why?” _

“Why?”

Laughing, Lena reached out and gently pushed her, making Kara rock backwards, before she leant back in, head cocked to the side and messy hair ruffling in the wind. She looked confused and on the verge of laughing, her clumsy proposal taking a sharp turn, even if Lena had said yes.

“Because,” Lena slowly said, leaning in slightly and tucking her hair safely behind her ear, “you see, there’s this ancient civilisation in a different solar system that was destroyed a few decades ago. And on their planet, when you want to marry someone, you give them a bracelet. See, it’s different to a friendship bracelet, and I don’t think that you meant to give me this one as a proposal when we were young, but … well, I’d like you to take it off, and I’d like you to put it back on me again. And then I’m going to take this ring, and I’m going to put it on and never take it off again.”

A light, surprised laugh worked its way up Kara’s throat and shakily fell from her lips, before she nodded, pink-cheeked and bright-eyed, her hands quickly picking apart the tiny knot. Cradling the thin bracelet in her hands, Kara ran her thumb over the woven strands and smiled to herself, before taking Lena’s hand in her own and looking at her with wide, innocent eyes.

“Lena Luthor, do you accept this bracelet as a binding token of our betrothal?”

At the grave tone of Kara’s words, Lena couldn’t help but smile, her lips twitching at the corners, before she inclined her head in a solemn nod and watched as Kara’s face lit up and she tied the bracelet back around Lena’s wrist, before gently prying to box out of her other hand. Freeing the ring from its velvet nest, Kara picked up her left hand and paused, feeling shy and overjoyed as she slid the ring into place on Lena’s finger.

Before the ring fully slid home, Lena was lunging across the space separating them and kissing Kara with enough force to catch her off-balance, until she was flat on her back amidst empty takeout containers, the blankets bunched up beneath her. Lena’s mouth was hot and urgent, and Kara wrapped her arms around her and smiled into it.

“How did you know? About the bracelet, I mean,” Kara asked after a moment, staring up at Lena, who loomed over her, dark hair tickling Kara’s cheek.

“I asked Lex to ask your cousin,” Lena confessed.

Eyebrows rising slightly, Kara gave her a curious look, “you did? Why?”

“Because you’re right. It was nice to have a friend, and it was even nicer to have a  _ girl _ _friend_, and I thought- I thought that one day … it’d be nice to have a wife too. I wanted to know how to do it properly for you.”

_ “Oh,”  _ Kara faintly murmured, “oh, did I- did I do it too soon? Should I have waited longer, or-”

Cutting her off with a kiss, Lena laughed against her mouth and Kara felt her stomach clench. Kissing her way along Kara’s jaw, Lena’s lips grazed her earlobe, and there was laughter in her voice when she continued.

“No. No, I think it’ll be just as nice to have a fianceé … for a while.”


	3. wedding rings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know these haven't had a lot of focus on the times in between but i like to think of them as 3 part vignettes focusing on 3 key moments in their lives so make of that what u will

They had a long engagement, the years slipping by as Kara came out as Supergirl and focused on her journalism career, while Lena worked her way up the corporate ladder of her family’s company, coming to rest at the very top of the ladder as the new CEO. Their wedding planning was crammed in around their busy lives, slowly coming together when they’d finally settled on a date four years after Kara had first proposed. 

Dress fittings and cake tasting, picking menus and colour schemes and flower arrangements for their bouquets, and venue viewings all finally culminated to the big day, midsummer in Midvale’s blistering heat, in a small church that was the same one Eliza had been married in herself. Both of them were wearing white dresses and matching bouquets of flowers, and Kara had a thin blue strand of braided string wrapped around the stems. The pews were half-full with friends and family, all of them dressed up for the occasion and bright-eyed as they tried not to cry - failing in some cases.

J’onn led the service, a knowing smile of happiness of his face as he wrapped the length of the deep red cloth over Kara and Lena’s joined hands. The binding scarf had been made out of the scraps of Kara’s old, ruined cape, which in turn had been Kal-El’s baby blanket. Her cousin sat in a pew with his new wife and their newborn son, watching on as the traditional Kryptonian wedding rites were bestowed, a thin silver bracelet on both of their wrists, before silver rings were held out in the palm of J’onn’s hand. 

Picking one up, Kara held it between thumb and forefinger and looked at Lena as she spoke, her voice trembling and eyes swimming with tears, even as she tried to remain stoic. 

“I do.”

With a tearful smile, Kara slid the ring home on the fourth finger of her left hand, working it past the knuckle and settling it home, before quickly bringing Lena’s hand to her lips and brushing a gentle kiss against the back of her fingers. Lena blinked rapidly and let out a quiet laugh, her eyes shining with adoration as she reached out with her right hand to pluck the other ring from J’onn’s hand while he rattled off the human vows for her. She could barely stand to let him finish before she answered.

“I do.”

Dropping her right hand in favour of Kara’s left, Lena smoothly slid the ring on, an almost smug look on her face as her eyes flashed triumphantly, a proud set to her shoulders as she slid Kara’s ring home.

Bouquets bumping and hands eagerly latching on in a tangle of fingers and excited anticipation, they were both brimming with impatience as they stared at each other. Kara was a full three inches taller than Lena in her heels and as she listened to J’onn pronounce them wives, Kara reached out to cup Lena’s cheek in her hand and kiss her before he’d even finished speaking.

Laughter rippled through the church, bouncing off the walls and high ceiling, and Kara poured every bit of her love into the kiss as Lena kissed her back. She felt like her heart was going to soar right out of her chest, her stomach fluttering with butterflies as warmth spread through her like wildfire. It wasn’t until she’d met Lena and subsequently fallen in love with her that Kara had thought that perhaps it didn’t matter if she wasn’t on Krypton. She’d found a home and a place for her heart, and in that moment, as she kissed her wife for the first time, it felt more binding than any silly symbol or ritual. It cemented what she knew in every fibre of her being, right down to the bone.

As they finally pulled apart, cheers filled the small space, and Kara and Lena stood at the altar, sunlight flooding in through stained glass windows and painting them every shade of the rainbow as they looked at each other, eyes shining and lips parted, cheeks flushed with delighted shyness. 

Hand in hand, they made their way down the aisle as all their invited guests stood clapping, the camera flashes from James dazzling them as they smiled and cast giddy sidelong glances at each other. Their dresses flared out behind them, veils gauzy and seeming to float in their wake as they made their way to the door.

Standing off to one side, shoulder to shoulder as if they couldn’t bear the thought of being so much as an inch apart, they were set upon by family and friends congratulating them and wiping tears as they smiled. Wrapped in tight hugs and kisses exchanged on cheeks, they waited until everyone was outside, sweating in the overhead sun before they stepped into the doorway.

Church bells clanged loudly, splitting the slow peacefulness of the undisturbed summer’s day, and Kara swept Lena up into her arms in the doorway of the church as her wife let out a squeal of surprised laughter. Holding her with ease, Kara met her green eyes and smiled widely, so much joy in her expression that it was undoubted that when they stepped outside into the harsh sunlight, Kara was blinking back tears of happiness, and not black spots from the sudden brightness. 

Rice rained down around them from the assembled guests, all of them cheering as Kara easily carried her bride down the stairs, and she couldn’t help but think that it almost looked like snow. Snow like the day that they first became friends. But the sun was bright overhead, birds singing and a warm wind caressing their skin, and Kara couldn’t stop smiling as she made her way down the steps, laughing as rice got tangled in her hair and bounced off the skirts of her dress. 

Gentle fingers plucked rice out of her hair, and Lena’s eyes were squinted at the sun as they reached the side of the road, where a vintage town car was idling at the curb, waiting to take them to their wedding reception at a local winery booked out for the event.

While the guests enjoyed a cocktail hour with chilled wine, champagne and canapes, the wedding party endured an hour of photos, shot by James on a variety of his cameras while they roasted in the sun. There were photos of them amidst the rows of grapevines and in the shade of sweeping willow trees, paired up with both sides of the family and all of them together, picking at a basket of snacks put together for them as they all waited their turn.

Eventually, they were reunited with their party for dinner cooked by a chef Lena had flown in from Paris for the occasion. Five courses went by with the alcohol flowing and congratulations pouring in from everyone in attendance before it was time for speeches. Lex and Alex, Eliza and Kal and Sam, all of them taking it in turns to tell embarrassing stories that even made Lena blush while everyone laughed goodnaturedly, before Kara excused herself from their table and made her way to the steps of the low wooden building, standing at the top with a glass of champagne in hand and accepting the mic off of Sam.

With a beaming smile, she let her gaze wander over the assembled guests sitting at the round tables, flowers spilling over everywhere she looked and the air cooling as the afternoon wore on, the sweetness of flowers cut through by the salty fresh air blown in from the sea. It was a perfect day to get married, Kara thought, although she imagined any day she got to wed Lena would be perfect in her mind, and she felt buoyed by her love as her gaze settled on her new wife.

“Hi everyone, I’d like to start by thanking you all for coming,” Kara started, quietly laughing at the ripple of cheers and claps from people who’d already had a few glasses of wine, “and I’d like to thank both mine and Lena’s families and friends for helping plan this whole thing - we wouldn’t have been able to do it without you all.”

There was a smattering of polite applause before everyone died down again as Kara continued to talk, her cheeks pink and eyes shining with a film of tears as she Lena’s stare. It was like they were the only two people there, everything else fading to a blur in the background, until all she could hear was the rapid beating of Lena’s heart to her sensitive ears.

“Most of all, I’d like to thank my wife.”

She paused for a moment to draw in a breath, feeling her heart leap in her chest as she savoured the sound of the word on her tongue. Never had a word sounded so right in her mouth, and she couldn’t help but pause to grin, cheeks dimpling with pure pleasure, before continuing.

“As many of you know, I lost my parents at a young age and was lucky enough to find a new family, who loves me as much as I love them. I didn’t realise at the time how that fortunate twist of fate would one day lead me to meet my wife. Lead me to meet the most extraordinary person I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. She stole my heart the very first day we became friends, and she’s had it ever since. So I’d like you all to raise your glasses to my beautiful wife. Lena, you changed my life the moment you came into it, and I can never thank you enough. I’ll love you forever.”

There was a chorus of toasting as everyone raised their glasses, the champagne in Kara’s glass gleaming golden in the sunlight as she stood beneath the eaves of the winery, her eyes only for Lena as she put everything unsaid into the look. 

Dinner was cleared away and music flooded through the evening. They had their first dance, swaying in each other’s arms while everyone looked on before the party started. Liquor flowed like water, music drowned out the sounds of the countryside and the night slipped by so fast that it all felt like a dream. A wonderful, magnificent dream, blurring together into rose-coloured memories that Kara would cherish for the rest of her life.

They cut the cake, they danced with all of their friends, and Lena made sure not to get sloppy as Kara took a sip of alien liquor that Mon-El gave to her out of a silver flask. There was an endless, dazzling array of photos and so much laughter that Kara couldn’t remember ever being happier in her life. It was undoubtedly the best day of her life.

It was after midnight when the reception started winding down, and a car was waiting in the gravel driveway of the winery to whisk them away to a private airstrip, where one of Lena’s small, private planes was waiting to fly them to their secret honeymoon destination. Kara had no idea where they were going, trusting Lena enough to plan some extravagant affair and get them there safely. In blind faith, Kara hugged Alex and Eliza goodbye and slid into the back seat of the car after Lena.

In wedding bliss, they rode through the centre of Midvale, past the school they’d both attended and mostly ignored each other in, until that fateful winter’s day, past the park with the tree where they’d first kissed, and the diner they’d frequented after school, coy and smitten with their crushes. It all looked different at night but was so achingly familiar that they couldn’t help but reminisce as nostalgia overcame them. So many of their firsts were held in that town, and it had only been fitting for them to start their marriage there too.

It wasn’t long before they reached the strip of pitted tarmac in a vacant field, a small luxury jet waiting with the door open and steps down to greet them. Their luggage had already been stowed onboard and in their white dresses they made their way up the steps, Kara sweeping Lena up into her arms at the bottom, so that she could carry her up and into the cool interior of the small jet.

Flopping down onto soft leather seats, Lena reached for the bottle of chilled champagne and poured them both a flute of golden bubbles as they lounged side by side, the door hissing as it was sealed shut and a pilot briefly greeting them as they toasted and wrapped themselves up in the glow of their recent nuptials. They were in the air ten minutes later, Midvale a black stretch, intermittently dotted with the warm, amber glow of light, below, and Kara found herself restless with excitement.

“So … where is it?” she asked, eyebrows rising expectantly as she beamed at Lena.

Letting out a derisive snort, Lena arched an eyebrow and took a sip from the glass delicately held in her grasp. “You can’t possibly think I’m going to tell you.”

“But we’re  _ already _ on the plane! I’m going to find out soon enough anyway.”

Mouth curving into a smile, Lena gave her a piercing stare that made Kara flush with desire, heat pooling in her stomach as she gave her wife a pleading look, trying to wheedle the answer out of her.

“Exactly,” Lena said, relishing the way that Kara squirmed with impatience, “you’ll know soon enough anyway, so why spoil the surprise?”

“I could always pick you up and jump out of the plane, and then you’ll  _ have _ to tell me so that I can fly us there.”

With a stern look, Lena gave her a level stare and didn’t so much as waver. In fact, a faint smile played at the corners of her mouth, an air of amusement surrounding her, as she watched Kara try and plead with her wide blue eyes and childlike innocence. It didn’t have the intended effect and Kara slumped beside her.

“You wouldn’t do that,” Lena said, calling her bluff as she reached out to trace the curve of Kara’s jaw with her fingertips, “because it would spoil my fun.”

“But  _ babe.” _

Quietly chuckling, Lena leant towards her and kissed her sweetly before she could protest further, before kissing her way up to her ear, her warm breath ticklish against Kara’s sensitive skin. 

“How about you just sit back and let me take your mind off where we’re going. We’ll be there before you know it.”

There turned out to be a private island that Lena had conveniently forgotten to mention her family owned off the coast of Greece, spacious enough for them to explore at their leisure, without being so big as to be ominously unaware of any other intruders on the private retreat built into the rocky side of a cliff. White sand gave way to azure waters and the private residence was a blinding white and deep blue, after the fashion of the Greek islands they were nestled amongst. 

They had a private pool, a spa and sauna, private tennis course and a dozen beaches to themselves. Hidden rock pools and coves with small caves were theirs to be explored, as well as the thickets of olive groves and scrubby trees that offered shade for them to lay on a checkered blanket and enjoy a picnic. Of course, for the first weekend, they didn’t so much as leave their bed, wrapped up in the feeling of home that came with each other, fingering the matching silver bands on their wrists and hands. They could’ve stayed there forever, and almost had a mind to do exactly that.

But it didn’t matter where they were, as long as they had each other because nothing had ever felt so perfect and right as for the two of them to be by each other’s side. What they came to realise that weekend they wed, and every day afterwards, was that it had been nice to have a friend all those years ago, and nicer still to have a fiance, but all of that paled in comparison to having a wife. It was very nice indeed to have a wife.


End file.
